- He stamped out his cigarette with contempt.
- "I can't tell you what to do with your life," she said.
- Silence. The two old friends looked a bit lost.
- "Well, then..." he paused, "what can you tell me?"
- She looked away, over his shoulder into the distance at nothing in particular.
- "You see, this thing we call 'life' is all a big joke."
- "Though, it's not funny at all, the joke's on us," she continued.
- "Wait," he interrupted, "don't start with the 'all the world's s stage' crap," he waved his hand dismissively.
- "Please stop thinking you have all the answers" She said, freezing him with a stare he knew well.
- "OK. OK. You're right," he apologized with his eyes, "I'll listen."
- "To continue," she paused, "the joke's on us because we take it so seriously." She shifted in her seat.
- "Sure, there's serious shit to deal with, violence, hatred, famine, disease, you name it."
- She fiddled idly with a napkin, "But, there's nothing that says we're compelled to be miserable about it all..."
- "Wait," he interjected, "how, exactly, might one NOT be miserable about that stuff? Ever heard of empathy?"
- She sighed, "You're doing it again. I'm not done." A waiter dropped off a glass of water, ice tinkled innocently.
- "Yep, misery loves company..." he trailed off and took a sip of the cool water.
- "That's one way to look at it. We're better off searching for the joy in it all, as difficult as that may seem."
- "Because, it's there. Within all the pain and suffering, it's there. You know why? Because WE bring it."
- "How do you mean, exactly?" his brow wrinkled and his head cocked to the side, like a dog.
- The bar was busier now. He had a hard time staying focused as sweaty revelers crowded the silent spaces.
- She noticed. "Wow, there are a lot more people here now - weird for a Wednesday afternoon."
- "Other people like to day drink," he smirked and took a pull from his warmly held pint.
- "Point taken. So, as I was saying, we bring the joy to the world, it's a distinctly human creation."
- "Like the Christmas song?! Ha!" he threw up his hand in mock celebration.
- "No. well, maybe, sure. It's up to us to forge the reality we want." she countered.
- "It all seems so insignificant. Why bother?" he asked, taking another long pull from his beer.
- "There's a BIG assumption! Why is it so insignificant? What makes you think bringing joy doesn't matter?" She leaned in.
- "What if it's hugely significant, like, if Karma's real?" she leaned back again in her seat, almost visibly tired.
- "Yeah, right," he said. "That ship has sailed. It's BS, a human construct to help us feel found...at least less lost."
- "It guilts people into being nice because something bad might happen to them. End of story." -
- "How do you know? And, what if we're nice and help people and Karma does not exist? So what?" she paused.
- And continued "Haven't we made the world a better place anyway? That matters."
- "I suppose," he snorted. "I should just be nice to everyone like my grandmother." His cynicism hung in the air.
- "That depends, assuming she is nice," she added with a touch of her own cynicism.
- "The reality is that elders are not always the nicest, they have there own hang-ups" she continued and then paused.
- "Thanks for bringing the rain to my already soggy parade," he smirked.
- "OK Reset. Let's assume we're all good people. Does that help? Making that leap in character judgment is important."
- "Right...#1 assume people are inherently good," he pretended to write it down.
- "Good. Good. Your mockery serves to reinforce the idea." She pushed a few cold french fries around her plate with her fork.
- Something changed. She looked up and her eyes began to fill with tears.
- "Whoa, what's up? What's wrong?" his concern was sincere. "What onion did we cut into?" He touched her hand.
- She welcomed it, then pulled it away slowly but deliberately. "Don't," was all she said.
- "Okay then," he was annoyed and pulled his hand back quickly.
- "It's been far too long to pretend we're connected - like that," she dried her eyes and blinked a few times.
- "Get over yourself." he flung it at her, "I've moved on." He warmed, "I just...it pains me to see you that way, as a friend."
- "With benefits?" she laughed to shake off the chill that overtook them.
- "Umm...no. But, whatever. Can we get back to the 'Meaning of Life?" He didn't laugh.
- "Sure. I thought about someone I'd judged severely and then regretted. Rule #1 came a little late."
- "A life lesson, eh? Well, you learned from it," he stated it plainly.
- "I think so, I mean, Yes. Sometimes. I have my moments." she paused again and looked away.
- "We forget about Karma all the time. Or, maybe we intentionally un-remember it." she continued.
- "Sure, when we're barraged with stories of suffering, violence, loss," he paused.
- "If that's happening to people, they must've been pretty bad to pile up Karma demerits," he said.
- "Another reason for avoiding the news, though ignorance is not a great strategy for living."
- "Where was I?" she shook her head. "Joy. We're on the hook to bring the Joy with a capital J."
- "I guess I struggle with that. I always feel like whatever I'm going to do is not enough," he mused.
- He continued, "In the face of so much 'bad', my little gestures just get lost in the cosmic background radiation."
- "Jeez. Are we going down that path - we're all made from stardust?" she looked irritated.
- "Well, pretty much, depending upon the creation myth you adhere to", he stated this flatly.
- "Let's just call that an 'unresolved issue'," she made quotes in the air. "Maybe new evidence will come along."
- "How does The Game fit into this?" his tone grew sinister.
- She shot him a terrified look. "We're done with that! We agreed."
- "Ok, Ok," he leaned back and smiled, "I was just testing. It's been awhile."
- "Wait. We're off topic again," he continued and thought about lighting another cigarette.
- "The beliefs associated with creation myths matter in this conversation," she was certain.
- "Beliefs. Indeed. They define our reality." he nodded agreement.
- "Exactly. Back to your Joy comment. If you believe that your actions are inconsequential, they will be," she paused.
- "Or, you're missing opportunities to move the positive needle forward," she motioned a needle moving across a gauge.
- "Maybe. I suppose if we all stuck to that, it'd be a pretty gloomy place," he allowed that to sink in.
- "Right," she smiled. "I bet you remember a small gesture that meant a great deal to you."
- "Ya know, that happened recently," he pointed at her, "a stranger bought me a cup of coffee, just because."
- "That's all it takes," she folded her arms triumphantly and sat back, sinking a bit into the old booth cushion.
- "But, I analyzed the hell out of it and concluded the guy was trying to make up for something," his brow furrowed.
- "So what if he was? Balancing the yin and yang. It still matters," she was admonishing him now.
- "And," he emphasized, "if it's a punishment for something, then what?" he was serious.
- "What, like 'community service', right? Still matters, again my point, whether court ordered or not," she paused.
- "OK, I'll take that. It's another way to think about it," he allowed.
- "I've found that looking at things as if I were a child is helpful - NOT looking for motives," she stopped.
- "What? That came out of nowhere," he lit that cigarette he'd been thinking about.
- "Well, they're pretty much innocent and don't have much baggage," she waved away his second-hand smoke.
- "Well said," he took a lazy drag.
- "Notice I said 'much' not 'any'? They have some from previous lives," she surprised him.
- "Good one," he smiled, "Or, Original Sin - going back to the creation myths," the smoke annoyed him too.
- "I guess you must think life's fleeting if you're still smoking those things," she was visibly angry.
- "Tell me about it. I guess quitting matters more to those around me than to me," his eyes half-closed.
- "And, as we've concluded, that matters," she lectured now.
- "My health is important to those around me," he recited with feigned seriousness, like a 5th grader.
- "Right you are!", she slapped the table, returning his mock enthusiasm.
- "But, you know, I'm kinda tired of the bullshit," he took another drag - purely out of spite.
- "Really? You're so good at it," she said.
- "That's my point. I'm tired of playing the game that it's all OK," he was getting upset again.
- "What do you mean?" She sensed something had changed, something unsettling.
- "There's too much smiling and nodding, not having the hard conversations about what we need to fix," he continued.
- "Well, are you willing to be the one that raises the discomfort topics?" she asked with a tone of derision.
- "About The Game? Yeah right. You know that's not something that anybody's ready for," his tone turned sinister again.
- "No!" she hissed and looked about furtively, "That's NOT what we're talking about. We agreed!"
- He looked back at her, paused, raised an eyebrow, and before she could reach him,
- his thumb found the button in his jacket pocket and pushed it.
- Her face went white as the bar started to blur, edges turning fuzzy, sounds were muffled, then she lost contact.
Sustainable solutions seeker. Father x2 and spouse. Over-thinker of the engineering sort. Writing about whatever comes to mind - climate change, humanetech, energy, data stewardship, spirituality, mental health, technology, behavior, sustainability, social media, etc. Seeker of a collective dream, not a good idea.
Friday, April 01, 2016
#AprilFools Day 2016 #9to5story
Here resides the entirety of the #9to5story published with twitter April 1, 2016. Tweets appeared every 5 minutes for the #AprilFools workday. Enjoy.
Labels:
#9to5story,
#aprilfools,
april fools,
creativity,
dialogue,
fiction,
social media,
story,
writing
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